Kermit The Frog
Kermit the Frog is puppeteer Jim Henson's most famous Muppet creation, first introduced in 1955. He is the protagonist of many Muppet projects, most notably as the host of The Muppet Show, and has appeared in various sketches on Sesame Street, in commercials and in public service announcements over the years. Kermit was performed by Henson until his death in 1990. Since then, Kermit has been performed by Steve Whitmire. He was voiced by Frank Welker in Muppet Babies and occasionally in other animation projects. Kermit performed the hit single "The Rainbow Connection" in 1979 for The Muppet Movie, the first feature-length film featuring Henson's Muppets. The song reached No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100. Kermit's iconic look and voice have been recognizable worldwide since, and in 2006, the character was credited as the author of Before You Leap: A Frog's Eye View of Life's Greatest Lessons, which is an "autobiography" told from the perspective of the character himself. The earliest ever trace of Kermit first appeared in 1955 on WRC-TV's Sam and Friends. This prototype Kermit was created from a discarded spring coat belonging to Henson's mother and two ping pong ball halves for eyes. Initially, Kermit was a lizard-like creature. He subsequently made a number of television appearances before his status as a frog was established, which was shortly before Sesame Street began. His collar was added at the time to make him seem more froglike and to conceal the seam between his head and body. Naming On more than one occasion the press has stated that Kermit's name was taken from Jim Henson's childhood friend Kermit Scott, from Leland, Mississippi. However, Karen Falk, who sits on the Board of Directors for the Jim Henson Legacy and serves as head archivist for the company, denies this on the Jim Henson Company's website: While Jim Henson did have a childhood acquaintance named Kermit, it was not an uncommon name at the time, and Jim always said that the Frog was NOT named for this child from his elementary school. Joy DiMenna, the only daughter of Kermit Kalman Cohen who worked as sound engineer at WBAL-TV during Jim Henson's time with Sam and Friends, recalls it differently. According to Kermit Cohen's obituary, as well as Ms. DiMenna & Lenny Levin, a colleague of Mr. Cohen at WBAL: The late puppeteer had been the host of a show, "Sam and Friends," at WRC-TV in Washington when he was invited to tour WBAL's studios. Both were NBC affiliates then, and WBAL carried the show, Mr. Levin said. Mr. Henson was introduced to members of the sound and camera crew, including Mr. Cohen. "When he heard his name, Jim turned around, snapped his fingers and said to his wife, 'That's what we call the frog – Kermit.' Another common story is that Kermit was named for Kermit Love, who worked with Henson in designing and constructing Muppets, particularly on Sesame Street. But Love's association with Henson did not begin until well after Kermit's creation and naming, and he always denied any connection between his name and that of the character. As Sesame Street is localized for some different markets that speak languages other than English, Kermit is often renamed. In Portugal, he's called Cocas, o Sapo (sapo means "toad"), and in Brazil, his name is similar: Caco, o Sapo. In most of Latin America, his name is la rana René (René the Frog). In Spain, he is named Gustavo. In the Arabic Middle Eastern version, he's known as Kamel, which is a common Arabic male name that means "perfect". In Hungary, he is called Breki (onomatopoetic). In Turkey, although he's known as Kermit on The Muppet Show, in Sesame Street episodes, he was called Kurbağacık ("little frog"). With the release of The Muppets in 2011, most of the aforementioned countries have begun using "Kermit" as the character's name. Character biography On an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Kermit commented to Ty Pennington, "You know, as a tadpole in the swamp, I had 3,265 brothers and sisters!" According to the 2002 film Kermit's Swamp Years, at the age of 12, he was the first of his siblings to leave the swamp, and one of the first frogs to talk to humans. He is portrayed as encountering a 12-year-old Jim Henson (played by Christian Kriebel) for the first time. According to The Muppet Movie Kermit returned to the swamp, where a passing agent (Dom DeLuise) noted he had talent and, thus inspired, he headed to Hollywood, encountering the rest of the Muppets along the way. Together, they were given a standard "rich and famous" contract by Lew Lord (Orson Welles) of Wide World Studios and began their showbiz careers. In Before You Leap, Kermit again references encountering Jim Henson sometime after the events depicted in the course of The Muppet Movie and details their friendship and their partnership in the entertainment industry, and credits Henson as being the individual to whom he owes his fame. At some point after the events of The Muppet Movie, Kermit and the other Muppets begin The Muppet Show, and the characters remain together as a group, before starring in the other Muppet films and Muppets Tonight, with Kermit usually at the core of the stories as the lead protagonist. The Muppet Movie says that the events of the movie "approximate how it happened" (referring to how the Muppets got started) when asked about the film by his nephew Robin. The character regards Fozzie Bear as his best friend—a fact reiterated by Kermit in Before You Leap—and the two were frequently seen together during sketches on The Muppet Show and in other Muppet-related media and merchandise.